


tarot

by MinarSmile



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Arcana - Freeform, Literally And Figuratively, M/M, Magic, Mingyu is the World, Seungcheol is Emperor, Seungkwan is a Fool, Supernatural Elements, Tarot, Unreliable Narrator, Woozi is Priestess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2018-11-05 15:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinarSmile/pseuds/MinarSmile
Summary: How the ocean falls in love with the world after the apocalypse





	tarot

**Author's Note:**

> reposted

The small television shaking is the only indication of the apocalypse.

The disappearance of the sun for a full day is another, along with the meteors that hurl out of the sky, the tsunamis raiding islands, earthquakes running down fault lines and tornadoes sweeping up survivors.

It seems like an apocalypse.

But on his low definition screen it feels only unreal.

He doesn’t respond when his step mother piles up into the car screaming Armageddon, driving off to the miracle city of the midlands with the family fortune and his half sibling. By coincidence, it was that city boasting protection that was hit by a torrential flood.

He stayed at home, content alone in a world left to perish, while his neighbours clambered into vehicles to run anywhere, or dancing wild in the cities pursuing their last wishes.

It is a message from his half sibling that urged him to go outside, plus the need for groceries.

He isn’t surprised to find a group of men in dark green camouflage, a gang in this dark age, lurking around the markets where his sibling promised to meet.

He went home that day.

But he couldn’t eat beans forever, so he went out again. This time familiar sunken eyes spot him and haul him over to the gang, a smirk on their self-righteous features. They have a nasty scar etched under their eye, no doubt from the flash floods and mobs outside the midlands.

He never was close to his half sibling.

He didn’t stare up again, huddling in the ruddy truck, where other petite figures were piled up. He wanted to ignore the dainty girls’ sniffling beside him, but when a grotesque man prowled forward, he finds it necessary to headbutt them. Hard.

“You wanna take their place?” Their breath stinks, but he is more focused on the earth that was splitting open before his eyes. The truck stumbles and crashes, but the passengers are unharmed in a deep chasm of solid rock. A swaggering man bustles in, shooting the girls fanciful grins and knocking the gang unconscious.

His first impression is a hero, in dark hair and glittering eyes that hold rolling hills. A storybook prince. Or a king.

 

After the last girl thanks him and he sends them off reluctantly, dark eyes zone in on his ambling stance, a far way from his old home.

“I don’t suppose you know where my empress is?” He jokes, but it didn’t sound as much as a joke as it does a plea.

He shakes his head no.

“Well,” He assesses him as best he could, which only consists of looking from dirty soles to waning bleached hair. “I could always use an entourage of strange folk like myself.”

“I am an emperor after all.” He says quite seriously, and it is confusing.

When he is offered a journey, there is nothing that hold him backs from chasing after a makeshift robe and crown made from the tremors of the earth.

He learns his name is Seungcheol, and he fancies himself the best at collecting stones to skim across water, while ripping holes into the ground and pulling volcanoes out of deserts. Or so he claims, as he doesn’t run around pulling islands out of lakes or piling mountains.

 

They find a stranger in a locked shed, that Seungcheol swore would have canned goods, but only had a pudgy boy that ran out with tears streaming down reddened eyes.

“Thank you, lords,” He sobs, wiping his snot on white sleeves. “I knew they’d come to save me.”

Then he wipes off the mess on his face and plasters on a shaky grin, holding his hand out eagerly to which the king warily takes. He refuses to take it. “I’m Seungkwan!”

**_And I know who you are_ **

He hears the light voice and immediately knows who is drifting into his thoughts; none other than the nosy Seungkwan.

**_I find that highly untrue I’m a blessing_ **

If the king shares these problems, he hides it well with his constant smirk and hands deep in his bomber jackets. He decides to ignore the voices, in his head and coming straight out of the boy’s obtuse mouth.

He still ignores it days afterward when the emperor heads off for a supply run while they stake out in an abandoned house with a decent sofa.

Curiosity grips him, and he allows it to take a stand.

“You want to know why I was locked in a shed?” Seungkwan asks incredulously, before abrasion becomes contusion. “Well, let’s just say my foster parents were tired of my shit.”

“They called me a liar.” He hisses, and he was reminded of the snake his second-year classroom took care of. Its name was Chundoong and it died from dehydration.

Seungcheol enters then with bags of something green and brown, and he zipped shut, expression turning to an almost smile. Beans and potatoes, per usual.

**_And I always tell the truth_ **

They come to a port city that smells like the table salt he spilled onto the floor as a child, before his father left.

He frowns.

**_Excited?_ **

He ignores them, trailing after a determined emperor that continues raiding houses and searching for his queen with that desperate frenzy he wears behind a mask of confidence.

No matter the cities they explore, the folks left behind from the apocalypse are nothing short of manic. Much like them, but not as good at hiding it.

“I wonder when I’ll find my empress,” Seungcheol bemoans, muttering his words into his smaller shoulder. It’s a heavy weight and it makes him slightly uncomfortable, but he allows it.

Eventually he’ll move on, he supposes. But after some minutes they are still carping.

Seungkwan has a judgmental look twisting up his features akin to a prune.

**_He has a partner_ **

He knows. As if the dark-haired king doesn’t remind him at every moment that he is looking for the wispy figure that devours flowers and secretes poison at every step.

He doesn’t want to meet them anytime soon.

**_They would devour you_ **

He’d hate to die so early.

The fool cackles at his own humour, causing him to push off the emperor, shooting a drenching glare their way before stepping out of the humid room. It’s raining outside, and he’s tempted to fall into the ocean.

So, he does.

He’s dipping in gentle waves when a tall frame is pulling him up by the collar. He bristles at the interruption and sends a tide rushing over their head to pull them under.

They simply fly above his element, staring down. It feels like the clocks halt ticking for one meager man, which infuriates him.

In a second, he hates him.

**_Do you really?_ **

He snaps and the water level rises, waves curling up abnormally to bite at the heels of their feet. They laugh. As if the world isn’t a perishable item without a label, no place in the solar system.

“Mingyu.” They greet, in a bright voice and brighter smile. And he understands that of all the scarcely surviving population, scraping by on the leftovers of the past’s dead bones, temperance forgotten, there are a few wanderers retaining hope.

A few that still maintain a sense of humanity.

He hates them more when they breeze into their outcast ensemble.

**_You should be more honest like me_ **

His sleep is restless. Continuing to ignore overbearing stares as Seungcheol rests his head on his lap. The stars are precariously shaking, threatening to fall in the same motion they conducted when they obliterated the southern isles.

“For a boy of the world,” Seungkwan begins his spiels, words sharp and digging. “You’re very kind. Not possessive at all.”

“I suppose,” Mingyu spares a glance at the sleeping king. He’s a normal boy. Except he’s tall. It’s hard to look at the boy when the sun rotates around him, the begotten earth. Especially when he smiles.

There are murmurs in his head, anxious, unlike him. He ignores them in favour of shutting his eyes, picturing stormy seas ravaging the world shores.

**_Be careful_ **

It’s a nasty man leading a group of children in thin clothes they encounter further south.

There is the accustomed ground-breaking sheen in the emperor’s eyes. But then Seungcheol is clutching his head, falling to the ground, and this springs him into action.

Or at least it should, but instead he stills.

The boy of the world is rising to strike the man, but he stops when the children cluster in front of him. Gazes cloudy. Protecting the man that holds their minds.

The most depraved of gifts are of those that manipulate the insides of the head. A monster. And one with an unwilling army.

He lowers his head, allowing the disgrace of humanity pass by unscathed.

His jaw clenches and liquid drips from the nails digging into his palms.

That night there is a merciless wave that crashes over the grey mansion where the monster resides, drowning him in his sleep before he can steal another mind.

**_You’ve done it again_ **

Mingyu steps up to him, a harsh glare marring his worldly appearance. “Why would you do that?!”

He’s never been mad at him before. Always forgiving. Always naïve.

He wants to lie, just like he always has. But the dreams of ravishing tides slipping up sandy shores and travelling impossible lengths to reach a revolting mansion reminds him. He had all the intent to drown out the evil.

He wonders if he will believe him if he says he had no intention of hurting the innocent.

“Those kids...” He never liked crayons as a kid. Or art. Or school. It was all a dreadful recession of his time. “They drowned.”

Seungkwan wears a wary grin. “Those children would have died anyways. They were brainwashed, and the consecrator’s spell still holds if he dies.”

“Still,” Mingyu outrages, not listening to a word that spills out of the fool. The boy of the word stares at him, but he doesn’t look back. “We could’ve tried to do something.”

He’s never wanted to hurt anybody, much less kill. But sometimes, especially at night when the moon is high, and the tides follow, it all slips.

They storm out of the abode, and its quiet except from the snores of a recovering emperor.

**_You hurt him_ **

He goes out, ignoring the fool’s smug grin, heading to the ruins of the grey hell house.

He stares at the desecrated structure, ambling around the damp grass. He’s searching for anything alive. And he hears a cry.

Under a salvageable part of the grey house, is a crashed in room, and huddled in the corner is a child with greyish eyes. Not completely white.

“Hello,” He stumbles out, unused to the clear tone of his watery voice.

The child cries.

He hasn’t cried since the time he overflowed a river. Or after his mother drowned in the bathtub.

He relaxes. Tears are only water. His domain.

He bends down, to their level, unable to hide his sadness accompanied by a small smile. “I’m the priestess. And I’m sorry.”

“Why?” The child blubbers confusedly, staring wide eyed. They have a downwards slope to their shoulders and bruises on their wrists.

“Cause you’re a good kid and, you deserve so much better than this.” He gestures to the wide encompassment of the dreary atmosphere, struggling to converse with the child.

“I miss my mommy,” The child cries, sniffing into long white sleeves.

“I do too.” He admits.

He freezes when the child hugs him, remaining still, before he gingerly reaches forward to clutch onto a shivering frame.

He carries the black-haired child back to their abode, ignoring the pointed look from the boy of the world. Tucking him into the only bed with a soft goodnight.

**_So, you do have emotions_ **

“Thank you.” Mingyu whispers in the dead of night, coming up beside him. He was staying awake staring at the ocean. “Those kids reminded me of myself when I was younger and didn’t have a home, so it meant a lot to me what you did.”

“Oh.” He blubbers, treading on loose words.

He wonders how a boy raised in an environment without love could grow up so loving.

“You’re a good person.”

He’s doubtful.

He shrugs. The air is suffocating, so he dives into the waves, escaping the tall boy’s soft grasp.

They don’t follow, and he starts to realize that the gentle waves that paint his eyelids blue can be a wicked and lonely force.

**_You’re keen, yet oblivious_ **

The tall boy of the world returns after taking the child away to a place he swears is safe. He doesn’t need to promise. He, like the fool, tells the truth.

The emperor wants to head out, further in land in search of a person coveted by roses.

He’s hesitant. The water calls him more than the earth, and it’s hard to say goodbye to his adoring waves that mute out the incessant sounds of the stars.

“The water will follow,” Seungkwan chirps, reassuring his drenched fears.

“Truly?”

Seungcheol hollers for them to follow, fiddling with a beat down truck, before it roars to life, streaming out mechanical poison.

**_Always_ **

The trees are nice, he surmises. Scary, with their entrapping vines and spindly branches. Inland is where the fittest, and similarly the cruelest of survivors reside. Those who toss out family for a day’s worth of clean water.

 

**_You’re silly for a priestess_ **

The emperor drives with purpose, stemming from a rumour from fell lips of a damsel spouting poison at newcomers treading on their enchanted woods.

**_Real silly_ **

The chairs are considerably soft on the back seat, contrary to the rough exterior of peeling blue paint.

**_Oh, priestess how I lose hope in you_ **

He glares at the boy riding shotgun, whose large mouth is pursed tightly.

**_I should be narrating. You’re unreliable, in many ways. No offense._ **

He’s fully capable of whatever the fool refers to. His throat dries up as the person beside him shifts.

**_Let me reiterate. The world lays beside you and you don’t bat an eyelash?_ **

**_No; what I see is a small, jaded man with a beautiful, kind spirit resting on their shoulders. A priestess that ignores the flush riding on their cheeks or the soft way they stare at dewy locks. I’m not a poet but even I can tell that you’re falling_ **

He bristles, startling the boy beside him.

“Are you alright?” Mingyu asks, but his voice is a drone compared to the ceaseless chatter rummaging through his mind.

“No, Seungkwan won’t shut up.” He grits out, hands clenching painfully, enough to draw blood in a way that will assuredly produce waterfalls in the savannas.

He seems confused, fixed on worldly affairs. “He hasn’t said a single word?”

He ignores him, conjuring thoughts of intentional drowning to scare off the round-faced boy. It works, as the fool pales, gulping for air.

He smirks, instinctively allowing himself to relax beside a comfortable heat not ever found in the depths of the seas.

The silence is reassuring, reminding him of the bottom of the ocean where only the uncanny reside. Bright but quiet.

He ignores the borderline apprehensive stares from the fool peering out of the window at the desolated scenes, of a city that fought against a forest.

Of a city that lost.

The domain of an empress.

**_Shit_ **

He doesn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t a flowery kingdom overturning entire skyscrapers in favour of spiralling oak trees. The feverish look in the emperor’s eyes reminds him of the follies of adoration, and it makes him bristle.

As they traverse further into the soundless city, save for the cries of birds, the foliage only increases, deepening into a darker green.

The boy of the world shoots him a heartening glance, for whatever reason. He’s not scared.

Why would water fear a mere plant?

It’s not his fault that the taller boy cascades over him while they walk, longer legs allowing for greater strides that pull him to the front.

He is as he imagined; a pretty boy roguishly staring down at them from the heights of a great tree, secreting absolute venom from sweetened words.

“My, oh my, company,” He whispers saccharinely. He roves his eyes over the ensemble, before halting at the priestess. Centuries ago they would have been rivals. Or lovers. Their relationship was always disquieting.

When the empress smiles the tree bends forward, pinpricks of blooming camellias emerging from his every step.

The emperor can’t contain his glee, stepping forward in a foolish frenzy. “My empress!”

**_I pity the boy king_ **

Only to be halted by strands of vines holding him back, while the empress spares him a downcast look. Sure, in most stories the emperors of earth would join to form a formidable pairing. However, not always. As told by the murmuring fool in his head, spindling tales of foretold romance versus ground shattering quarrel.

“Priestess,” The empress says, a strange, almost appreciative glint in twinkling eyes. “Age has done nothing to your features.”

The empress reaches out a sharp hand, but he steps back. Their smile remains resolute. “I’m Joshua.”

“And the world,” Switching his glance to the tall boy. “A formidable ally.”

**_What am I? Chopped liver?_ **

“Friend.” Mingyu says softly, and he wants to hit him.

The empress pauses for a contemplative second, before grinning voraciously.

“I see.”

**_Hello?_ **

He understands when he sees the empress embrace a long-haired fellow that is radiant under the spotlight of the moon. An unlikely pair. But stranger things have happened.

“Fate doesn’t always hold strong,” Seungkwan says simply, as if trying to comfort the wounded emperor that remains huddled on an emerald loveseat of the empress’ abode.

His tantrum had not gone unknown, as the great canyons had plunged, and islands had cowered back into the oceans. He wishes it would dissipate, as the king is left clutching onto his smaller frame.

He wishes for a drizzle to sate his dry countenance. There’s a bearing stare from across the room, and it’s hard to ignore.

Perhaps there was a period where the reverence he held for an emperor could be mistaken for more than companionship, but he’s wiser now. He knows that the emperor is not meant for him.

**_And that you’re meant for_ **

Nobody. The priestess will choose their own path.

There is smatter of rain on the window panes, so he rushes forward, leaving the whining emperor behind to build his own kingdom from the mud.

The wet sensation that drips down his heated skin is transcendent, light locks painting a darker shade against the night sky. He’s always liked stars. They look like they are swimming against a strong current.

“Tides, huh.” A silky voice calls, always the moon that entrances him. True to their namesake they have smooth skin and long, silver locks.

In a past life, this pair would hold strong. But they’ve both made their choices.

“There’s a river up there.” The moon says, smile generously wistful.

He doesn’t run, simply wanders past fallen buildings, to the old structure of a bridge with white peonies growing from the edges. The river is opulent under silver light, so he slips in, the water level immediately raising to suit its muse.

The story repeats, and the boy returns, hovering, barely skimming the water with his feet.

“Jihoon.”

He stares up at them, unabashed. Maybe it’s the moon’s influence but he feels particularly compliant.

“Do you ever wonder what we, or you, would be like if,” Mingyu gestures softly around him, continuously infatuated by the shell of a world they live in. “Things were normal.”

“I,” He’s scared. Scared of uttering the rehearsed lines engraved on his heart. He’s never told anyone; not even the fool. “Wanted to be a singer.”

Mingyu starts at his confession fleetingly, before melting into a grin. “I was going to be an astronaut.”

He can’t help but laugh. How ironic. The boy of the world wanting to go to space.

He blushes, chiselled looks colouring a red like the horizon at daybreak.

“I just really liked the stars.” He admits, before his expression turns mischievous, long arms reaching to the small priestess drifting in the waves. “Let me show you something.”

He hesitates. But the world in their eyes has the ocean gently crash on rocky shores, and he reaches out to be lifted by the boy of the world.

It’s frightening having nothing solid under his feet, and only the presence of air and Mingyu’s solid hold around his waist.

“Don’t be scared,” He laughs against his light hair, words grazing his ears. “I may not control the skies, but I can do this.”

He blinks, and they are somewhere else without rain.

A dusty hill that overlooks a begotten city.

“I think the stars look beautiful up here.” Mingyu gazes wondrously at the stars.

He says the heavens are not his domain, but they are. Along with everything the earth treads on. For he is the world. The entire world composed in a tall and immature boy.

“I suppose,” The stars do look nice, numerous in numbers, linking odd constellations together in a brilliant golden light. The sky became clearer as the population dwindled. It’s a sad, bittersweet thing that the world enacted, for its own survival.

“I never trusted the wandering magician with all his tricks,” Mingyu starts, leaning closer to the smaller boy. “But Jun wasn’t wrong about one thing.”

He never told him that he met the master of illusions already. A magician can’t be trusted, especially alongside the fool.

“The priestess is beautiful.” Mingyu says softly, as his cheeks darken. “You know, enough to seduce the empress, the emperor, death, all those folks.”

He’s never heard such audacious claims. It’s always been the empress and their vindictive charms. Or the enchanting moon that attracts suitors.

There’s a warm feeling in his chest. Such vague compliments yet he wants to dunk his head underwater and remain at the depths. At the same time, he never wants to tread water again if it means he can hear such sweet words on the surface of earth.

He goes on his toes to pull the world down, pressing a chaste kiss on their lips.

Of all the stories, he cannot recall one where the world and the water come together.

Well, save for one about the priestess weeping by the sea that caused the world to shake and come to an end for one lonely maiden. The world almost concluded in that tale.

Maybe he’s meant to adore the moon, and the world is meant to remain in the skies, but he can’t find it in himself to care about forgotten legends.

He grins against their mouth as Mingyu curls his arms over his shoulders and bends down to return the kiss properly.

Across the world a hurricane stops its meanderings, resettling back into a settling ocean, a river of freshwater ending its torrential rush.

**_Happy now priestess?_ **

It feels strange, but he’d say yes.

**_Took you long enough_ **

As easy it was to bring the world crashing down, it’s almost easier to build it back up again.

The seas retain their glistening surface, smoothly sliding on newly formed beaches, as the dense foliage lusciously allows for animals to roam the lands freely, the sky kindly allowing glimmers of the sun to shine on a quiet world.

The last part is a surprise, as the sky is possessive of it’s sun, above all. Perhaps it was the humble biddings from the boy of the world.

The king starts up a new journey on his old motorcycle, chasing after himself this time. Though he may simply be following a trail of stars with slanted eyes. The moon and empress remain extremely engaged, singing woes that build colosseums of roses in midnight.

The fool finds a new band of people to bother, a tower that showers lightning from sharp features and temperance that has no qualms of stating his brash opinions.

Naturally, he radiates back toward the seas, where he rests off cliffs that overlook his oceans. And sometimes when the night is clear, a boy comes, daring to step over his waves. But a closer look always shows that his feet barely skim the surface of the water and the world holds their sovereign up.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of the really neat concept from the Arcana Chronicles.
> 
> For clarification, the characters are based on major arcana.  
> Jihoon - Priestess (lady of water)  
> Mingyu - The world (can teleport)  
> Seungcheol - Emperor (earth)  
> Joshua - Empress (flora)  
> Jeonghan - The moon (great archer)  
> Seungkwan - Fool (knows all)  
> Jun - Magician (illusions)
> 
> Other members that were not explicitly mentioned, but i must include.  
> Seokmin - The sun (obviously)  
> Vernon - The tower (lightning)  
> Minghao - Temperance (justice)  
> Wonwoo - Death  
> Soonyoung - The stars  
> Chan - The child saved by jihoon in the story. Fortune (very lucky)


End file.
